I worked in a bookstore some years ago and moved plenty of books that had Oprah stickers on them. It was easy to be an arrogant snot and look down on the various housewives reading Faulkner and Garcia Marquez for the first time. I also had a passing admiration for Jonathan Franzen for not wanting to be associated with her book club.

I wised up, though. I should have been thanking Oprah for sending droves of my customers into my place of employment, and spreading the word about things that I liked, such as Faulkner and Garcia Marquez. I also later realized that Jonathan Franzen is an arrogant jerkwad who hates everything.

Was it all middlebrow and sort of superficial? Sure. But it was also pretty much Reading Rainbow for adults, and that's hardly a bad ting.

This is a nice post. I like all the blue and green colors in it.